


drown your fears (and set your heart ablaze)

by jjokkiri



Series: #kihobingo 2017 [4]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fairy tail au, Fluff, KiHo Bingo, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 15:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11603484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: In which a young, abandoned Dragon Slayer finds himself walking alongside his only friend; Kihyun is afraid of his own magic, while Changkyun guides his way. And a stranger swears to protect him, and Kihyun may just have fallen in love.





	drown your fears (and set your heart ablaze)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the _Anime/Manga_ square of [#kihobingo](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/kihobingo). This is set in the Fairy Tail universe, but you shouldn't have to need to know too much about the actual anime/manga itself to understand what's happening! Please enjoy!

The pride of every mage while they were growing up was the moment that they could find a guild to call their own: a guild that would imprint their precious guild symbol onto them and proudly call them a part of a closely knit family. To mages who grew up without their parents (nor any other kind of family) by their sides, it was even more special to able to find a guild that would take them in. For those mages, finding a guild to fit into was the equivalent of finally finding family that would accept them as they were, for all they were.

Swearing that oath and promising their loyalty to a guild for life and death was a moment they lived for and looked forward to at every single moment of their life, because it meant that they’d finally find a place to fit in. A comfortable place to belong and work for, so long as the Magic Council didn’t shut them down. Every mage looked forward to that single moment in their life, before they thought of anything more.

For Yoo Kihyun, from the moment he’d met Im Changkyun at the orphanage he’d been placed into, he knew that there was nothing he would do without Changkyun by his side. When his mother turned her back on him, after his father vanished from the face of the planet, and forgot about the entirety of his existence for the sole reason that he’d been blessed with magic that he shouldn’t have had—the child of two seemingly ordinary people shouldn’t have been born as a Caster; birthing a child shouldn’t have made the love of her life vanish from her life.

At four years old, he was left in tears, standing in the pouring rain in front of an orphanage where he shouldn’t have been standing when his mother was alive and well. With his hair matted to his forehead while the rain cast an unrelenting downpour on him, Kihyun’s tears never stopped as he cried for his mother to come back; she promised that she’d come back, if he stood in place and behaved, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that she lied—that she wasn’t going to be coming back for him.

It made him hate the magic that he could cast—the sparking embers that fell from his fingertips that he’d thought was amazing. He shouldn’t have shown her. Had he not shown her, then surely, she wouldn’t have left him crying in the rain for anyone to find him. The kind woman at the shelter held onto his hand and promised to stay with him, but her kindness was far from the love from a mother that the small child craved and needed.

And when he turned nine years of age, he finally found someone who was like him. Im Changkyun was a small boy who entered the shelter with his head held high, declaring with pride that he was a mage. The other kids at the shelter immediately pointed their fingers to Kihyun, who was playing alone with a puzzle on the ground, telling Changkyun that he wasn’t the only mage in the shelter. And from that very moment, his only friend had been Changkyun.

_(And mother would never know about the gifts his father had blessed him with—mother would have never known that he was the son of a Dragon; she’d never know that the love of her life continued to live on inside her only son. She’d never know about the quiet voice that assured her frightened child that he wouldn’t be alone for long; that he’d find a friend who was alike to him—that everything would be okay, again.)_

Even when a freak accident caused the orphanage to burn down, while Changkyun and Kihyun were playing outside with their magic, Changkyun stayed by his side and refused to cast the blame onto him. Kihyun blamed himself, but Changkyun tightly held his hand and promised that everything would be fine; that it wasn’t his fault that the shelter burned down with everyone else in it. From that moment, they found their way into the city together, leaving behind ashes and all their memories with the hopes to start again somewhere new. At nine years of age, they were already trying to strive on their own.

Perhaps, it was because Changkyun understood the feelings that came along with thinking that everything being destroyed at your fingertips—he’d experienced it, once upon a time, from the small snippets of the stories that Changkyun at seven years of age dared to tell Kihyun, when his memories overwhelmed himself with a sadness that he couldn’t seem to shake off. Perhaps, it was because Changkyun, despite being so much younger than him, played the mature role of his mentor when it came to using his magic.

The younger boy was a Caster of Lost Magic (and Kihyun would later find that he was the same), and that had been the very first thing that caused them to click and stick to one another’s sides like nothing else mattered. He’d been raised by a Dragon, before they’d vanished completely from Earth Land, and he was left at the orphanage to meet Kihyun and stay by his side. At eight years of age, Changkyun’s delicate hands could conjure storms and heal the burns that ran across his own arms, when Kihyun’s panic overtook his focus.

And perhaps, that talent that Changkyun possessed might have been the reason that the guild they approached in the city immediately found a liking to him. They called themselves the X Clan, and they found themselves fascinated with Changkyun’s magic as soon as the younger man gathered air between his hands to heal a wilting flower decorating the front of the guild’s entrance. The young boy had only been concerned for the life of a flower, but he changed their lives with a simple choice to approach the wilting blue petals with careful hands ( _“Hyung, it’s dying,”_ he said, with obvious worry in his tone, _“If I can do something for it, I shouldn’t let it die!”_ And Kihyun had let the younger boy leave his side for the few moments to save the life of the small flower).

It was a rainy day in June that Changkyun crouched by the flower, and Kihyun stood next to him, carrying an umbrella in his hand to shield the younger boy and the small flower. It seemed that Kihyun’s life was always turning itself around on dreary, rainy days. A yellow-coloured flying cat-like being (which both children later learned was known throughout Earth Land as an _Exceed_ ) appeared before them with narrowed eyes and its arms crossed over its chest, small wings fluttering behind itself. It looked displeased to have visitors, and the ten year old mage quickly hid behind Kihyun’s back.

“Who are you two, and why are you on our property?” it asked. Kihyun could see the traces of an orange guild _‘X’_ on its back, just under its wings. He supposed it was safe enough to assume that the yellow flying cat was a member of the guild they’d stepped onto the property of.

But, a protective instinct crossed Kihyun’s mind and he placed a guarded hand on Changkyun’s shoulder, protecting the healer from anything that might happen. The twelve year old boy took a step forward to cover the ten year old mage from the flying cat.

“He’s just trying to save the flower’s life,” Kihyun said, umbrella clenched tightly in his hand and his other hand still placed protectively on Changkyun’s shoulder. “Is that a crime?”

The flying yellow cat narrowed its eyes, looking past Kihyun to make direct eye contact with the frightened Sky Dragon Slayer, who clenched his hands into the back of Kihyun’s shirt; “Are you a healer, boy?”

“I’m an Air Elemental mage; my mother taught me to heal,” Changkyun managed to say. Kihyun suppressed his surprise in the answer— _the young mage was lying._ Changkyun never knew his parents, Kihyun knew that for certain. The young mage was raised and trained by a Dragon.

“What’s your affiliation?” the cat asked, flying closer to them and ducking under the shelter of Kihyun’s umbrella. Both Kihyun and Changkyun took a step back, unsure of what the Exceed was capable of.

“We’re guildless,” Kihyun told him, gathering his nerves. “We travel together, alone. We have no affiliation; we were simply passing by.”

Kihyun took Changkyun’s hand in his with his free hand and took another step backwards, “We’ll be leaving, if you don’t want the flower to be healed, but you don’t need to ask so many questions. Changkyun, let’s just go.”

The young mage looked perplexed, _“Hyung... the poor flower...”_

Kihyun looked from Changkyun, to the flower and then to the Exceed. A sigh left his lips, but the Exceed seemed to take pity on the young mage.

“You can save it,” the Exceed told him, moving aside. “On the condition that you come inside and speak to the rest of the guild. I think the guild master would like you, little one.”

Changkyun looked at Kihyun, pleading with his eyes. The twelve year old nodded, letting Changkyun go and careful to hand him the umbrella. He stood in the rain with the Exceed floating before him, as Changkyun knelt down beside the blue flower.

“Are you a mage, too, travelling boy?” the Exceed demanded. Kihyun nodded his head, quietly. “And what can you do? Your partner is a healer and an Air Elemental mage; what are you?”

Kihyun swallowed. He hadn’t used his magic since the incident at the orphanage—he’d been too afraid to do so, in fear that it would fall out of control. He wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to call himself a mage, after so much time away from his magic.

“I’m a Caster,” he replied, quietly. Changkyun hadn’t called his magic by its real nature; he supposed that he shouldn’t, either. “An elemental mage, as well. That’s all.”

The Exceed studied him with narrowed eyes and it frowned at his response, lacking of detail.

At that moment, Changkyun sprang back to his feet with his eyes shining happily. By his feet, the blue flower looked fuller and healthier, no longer wilting slowly. He’d cast a small, swirling shield made of air around the flower, making sure that the rain wouldn’t harm it. Kihyun’s lips curled into a small smile at the sight of Changkyun’s handiwork; feeling proud of the ten year old mage. The young mage ran back to Kihyun’s side, quickly shielding him with the umbrella.

The yellow Exceed looked at Kihyun and then motioned for the two mages to follow it.

“You two have a promise to keep.”

 

 

 

The inside of the guild was warm and comforting; it was shelter from the rain and enough for both Kihyun and Changkyun to feel safe for the few moments that they had to keep a promise. Walking down the long hallway leading to the common floor of the guild was awkward, but they could hear the sound of voices shouting at one another in the distance. Changkyun kept his hand locked with Kihyun’s seemingly afraid of what would come for them. They were always used to being alone with one another, and being in the presence of other people always seemed to make Changkyun a little bit uncomfortable. Kihyun found it understandable.

“Jooheon!” came a voice, immediately as they entered the common room. “Where did you go?”

The person who spoke was a girl with bright blonde hair; she looked to be around Changkyun’s age. She paused upon seeing the two strangers with the yellow Exceed and her silence drew the attention of the rest of the guild. Suddenly, all eyes were on them and Kihyun couldn’t remember the last time he felt so uncomfortable.

“Who are they?” she asked, and the Exceed ( _Jooheon_ , Kihyun supposed his name was) dropped himself onto the floor, walking on his feet to approach her.

“They were outside the guild,” he explained. “They’re both mages and they’re lacking affiliation to any guild. The little one with the blue hair is an Air Elemental mage, and he knows the Healing Arts. I thought Master Hyunwoo would be interested in him. He and his friend look inseparable, so I asked them both to come in.”

“You want Master Hyunwoo to hold a guild audition, right now?” she asked, incredulously. “We’re not holding guild auditions until next week. Master Hyunwoo already said that.”

Jooheon nodded, cutting her off, “Where is he? Can you go get him for me?”

The blonde girl immediately hushed, nodded, and ran off to find the mentioned man, and Jooheon turned to look at them with a small grin on his lips. “I think the guild master will like you.”

Jooheon had mentioned that he was sure that the guild master would like Changkyun, but Kihyun hadn’t shown anything that might have been of interest to any of the mages. Their eyes continued to watch the two young mages, and Kihyun swallowed. Changkyun’s hand tightened its grip on Kihyun’s hand, and he suddenly felt the urge to assure Changkyun that everything was going to be alright—but for some reason, he wasn’t sure that it would be.

Kihyun felt a sinking feeling in his gut at the sound of the words. _A guild audition?_ From the things he’s read in books and heard from travelers, that meant that they’d both have to show their magic to an audience and they’d determine the worth of their magic, in order to let them join a guild. Kihyun and Changkyun never set out to find affiliation with a guild, but this was something that every mage looked forward to at some time in their lives—it was much safer to keep themselves affiliated with a guild than to continue traveling alone. But, Kihyun was afraid of his own magic.

Telling other mages that he was afraid of everything he was capable of was ridiculous, though. For a mage, everything they were capable of was their pride and joy—they could do things that normal humans couldn’t, and surely, it was supposed to be something they held with pride. They shouldn’t be _afraid_ of what they could do, but Kihyun’s magic was something he’d only ever known to be destructive. And only Changkyun, who was by his side since he found himself all alone again, understood his reasoning without him needing to really say anything. He treasured their friendship for more than that, but he adored the younger man for such reasons.

The shuffling of footsteps and the synchronized turn of heads in the guild made Kihyun look back up, and both he and Changkyun made eye contact with an elderly man. The blonde girl from earlier was holding onto his arm, seemingly helping him walk, and they came to a stop in front of the two young mages.

“These boys are mages?” the man asked, the sound of his voice seemingly rumbling throughout the crowd. “Jooheon?”

The Exceed nodded his head, “The one with blue hair was healing the flowers in front of the guild,” he declared, proudly. “He’s an Elemental mage, he said.”

The old man raised an eyebrow and took a step closer to Changkyun, “What’s your name, little one?”

Changkyun looked to Kihyun quickly, before quietly murmuring, “ _Changkyun_. My name is Changkyun.”

“And you can heal?”

Kihyun didn’t understand the attention surrounding the fact that Changkyun had the ability to heal, nor did he understand why the guild seemed to be so focused on the need for a healer. But, perhaps, it was just the fear that Changkyun would receive an invitation to join the guild, and he’d leave Kihyun behind. Changkyun was his only friend, and he wasn’t sure what he would do without the younger man. Aimlessly wandering throughout the towns alone wasn’t fun, and dangerous. Kihyun was only twelve and he didn’t want to lose the young mage.

Changkyun nodded, quietly, “Only minor injuries,” he said, quietly—Changkyun had always been the quiet, shy type. “I can heal plants to full health and small animals, but I can’t do very much for humans.”

“We have an injured mage,” Hyunwoo explained to him. “You’re not affiliated with any guild, right?”

Changkyun nodded, quietly.

“If you can heal him, would you like to join the guild?” Hyunwoo’s voice was gentle and kind, and Kihyun felt like he was listening to the voice of the father he hardly knew. Changkyun looked to him, unsure, and Kihyun offered a small smile to him, as if telling him that he would be okay, if he wanted to join the guild.

“What about Kihyun hyung?” Changkyun asked, softly. All eyes suddenly turned to pay attention to Kihyun for the first time since the guild master had entered the room. “I don’t want to do anything without him.”

Hyunwoo turned to look at him. He studied him for a moment, “What can you do, little one?”

Kihyun’s eyes widened with fear at the question. In front of the Exceed, he could lie about what he was capable of, but in front of someone who wanted to take Changkyun away from him, he had do something.

“I—” he stumbled over his words. The twelve year old mage clenched his fists, shaking in fear (and at the same time, praying that his hands wouldn’t burst into flames in response to his nerves racing). Hyunwoo watched him patiently, and Changkyun placed a hand onto his arm, as if trying to soothe his nerves. _It hardly worked_.

A voice interrupted them, sounding annoyed, “He clearly can’t do anything amazing. Any mage would wait for the opportunity to show their magic to a guild master, if they were requested to.”

“Don’t say that!” Changkyun told him, suddenly sounding angry. Kihyun looked at the younger mage, surprised. Changkyun protectively stepped in front of him, “Hyung is more powerful than you could imagine! You’re just impatient and mean, and you’ll never know anything, if you’re like that!”

It’s a childish argument, but there was nothing more that a child could say to defend his friend, who couldn’t speak up for himself. Kihyun felt a dread filling his gut—a reminder to himself that he often felt like he was a burden to Changkyun. The younger boy was a much greater mage than he was, despite being younger, and he acted as a mentor to Kihyun. And in Kihyun’s eyes, he shouldn’t have to—Kihyun should have been able to control his magic a lot better than he was able to. He never had the chance to learn how to use his magic like Changkyun did, but still, he blamed himself, despite the entire world being against him.

“Sorry, kid,” the man scoffed, a pitying smirk on his lips as he raised an eyebrow at the children in front of him, “But, someone who can’t even show their magic has absolutely no use. Don’t be ridiculous with all that _powerful_ crap; it’s not like either of you know Lost Magic or the Dark Arts.”

Changkyun’s expression immediately darkened, but Kihyun could see the way that he bit his tongue to prevent himself from lashing out at the older mage.

There wasn’t any way to know that someone could use Lost Magic by simply looking at them, but it seemed to be firmly believed that the users of Lost Magic were rare. The assumption made by the older mage wasn’t wild, but it was undoubtedly offensive to a child who grew up believing that his magic was everything to him—Changkyun treasured his abilities, and the words struck him as offensive. That much was obvious to anyone who looked at the blue-haired mage. Kihyun could practically see the wheels turning in Changkyun’s head, even standing behind him; _it’d be better for them if no one knew the true identity of the type of magic they were capable of._

“I won’t do it without him,” Changkyun said, decisively. The panic immediately flashed through the faces of everyone in the room and Kihyun looked at the younger man with surprise.

“Changkyun—” he started. He was cut off by a sudden voice coming from the crowd.

“Can’t you see they’re inseparable?” All heads turned to look at the boy who’d spoken up. He looked to be a little bit older than Kihyun—perhaps, he was somewhere around sixteen years old. “If you want one of them, you’re going to have to take both of them. Why would you try to break them apart, if they don’t want to leave one another?”

“The Elemental mage has use to us,” argued one of the older mages. Kihyun looked to him, eyes shaking—he was tall and he held his head high with pride; he scared Kihyun. “We don’t even know if he’ll be able to save Minhyuk, but we’re really talking about accepting his friend into the guild? The other one can’t even show us his magic, so he has no use to us. Why would we even think about taking him in? I remember every single word I swore in my oath, when I joined the guild and I don’t remember any part of it saying that this guild was a charity, Hoseok.”

The smaller mage, Hoseok, narrowed his eyes, “This guild isn’t a charity, you say? What part of not wanting to split up two kids who are clearly inseparable means that we’re turning our guild into a charity?” Hoseok took a step forward, arms crossed over his chest and challenging the older man with a taunting tilt of his head. “Tell me then, hyung, would you be fine with having your entire team split apart, because you weren’t as good as your teammates? Deemed not as strong of a mage as you flaunt?” he demanded, “What if we held another tournament, watched you fail miserably and took away your S-rank qualification, Jooyoung hyung?”

The dark-haired mage, Jooyoung, flushed with embarrassment and he crossed his arms, shutting up. A part of Kihyun was grateful for the other mage for speaking up—he would never have found his words to stand up for himself, and Changkyun couldn’t say anything more for him. And despite being obviously younger, the smaller mage seemed to have more power in the guild, and it caught Kihyun by surprise.

“Don’t talk if you don’t know anything. We’re a guild and a family, not a squad of elitists; you should know when you can’t tear a family apart from one another.” Hoseok finally said, before turning to look at Kihyun. His gaze softened when their eyes met and Kihyun suddenly felt smaller.

The other mages in the guild looked to the young boy, silently. He approached Kihyun, hands shoved into his pockets and he bent down to look at him with furrowed brows. Kihyun flinched, taking a step back. He studied Kihyun for a long moment, and then he turned to look at the guild master with determined eyes.

“Let him join the guild with his friend,” he said. “I’ll take responsibility for him, but none of you are going to tear these two apart, unless they want to leave. They look like they’ve gone through enough.”

He didn’t wait for the response of anyone else in the guild, but the light in his eyes clearly stated that he wasn’t willing to let anyone speak up against his decision. It made Kihyun wonder what kind of power this mage had in the guild, considering he spoke down to the S-rank mage who seemed so proud of himself; this boy seemed much too young to be a highly ranked mage.

“I’ll make sure you and your friend will be okay,” Hoseok promised, ruffling his hair. Kihyun blinked, the foreign feeling of someone’s hands in his hair making his chest bloom with a strange warmth. He wasn’t used to this kind of affection from someone he hardly knew. “You don’t look like you could do very much damage to us, anyway. And if you can, then grandpa’s strong enough to stop you—he isn’t a guild master for nothing.”

Kihyun looked from Hoseok to the old man, who had gently asked him what he was capable of, and then back into Hoseok’s dark irises. There was a promising light in them, and Kihyun’s mind assured him that it would be okay to trust someone like this—that he and Changkyun would be safe in the care of this guild. _Hoseok was the grandson of the guild master._ It made sense, suddenly: _the reason why the young mage seemed to have so much power in the guild._

“Grandpa,” Hoseok said, looking at Hyunwoo. The old man looked at his grandson and nodded, acknowledging his voice. Hoseok never took his eyes off of Kihyun as he spoke, “Let them both join the guild, even if the healer can’t save Minhyuk’s life. They need a place to stay, and they’re not going to be safe traveling alone.”

 

 

 

There was a voice in the back of Kihyun’s mind that demanded he go and find Hoseok to thank him for sticking up for him. They were strangers and Hoseok was in no way obligated to defend him from the mean words of his guild-mates, but he did it anyway. With the burn of the red-coloured guild crest on the side of his neck, Kihyun’s fingers couldn’t help but continue touching the mark—he didn’t think he deserved it, despite what Changkyun’s smile promised him (“Hyung, we finally found a place that we can belong,” the younger boy told him with his eyes bright and innocent).

They’d taken Changkyun away from him, telling him that they were taking him to where the boy that needed his help was staying. They made sure that Kihyun knew that they weren’t going to take Changkyun away from him forever, and now, he was wandering the hallways of the guild, meaninglessly.

His mind stayed on the thought of the injured mage that Changkyun was to heal. All they knew about the boy was that he was injured and that his name was Minhyuk, but they both knew that Changkyun would save a life if it was in his power to do so—he was small, still sometimes weak, but anything that was within his abilities, then he’d do it without thinking too much. The blue-haired made was an actual angel, if you asked Kihyun to describe his partner.

The twelve-year old mage sat down on one of the barstools and leaned his head against the wooden surface of the bar, exhaling softly. He’d never wrap his head around the fact that he was now considered a part of a family that hadn’t the slightest clue as to what kind of magic he could cast. Kihyun’s dark hair fell into his eyes and he drew absent patterns with his finger on the wooden surface, humming softly under his breath.

“What are you doing all alone?” a female voice came from in front of him and he looked up, curiously. She looked to be in her twenties, and her eyes were bright. She sported lilac-coloured hair, and Kihyun’s immediate thought was that she must have been something elegant. “You’re the new kid, right?”

Kihyun nodded, looking at her, “Everyone went with my friend,” he told her. “I don’t have any friends, yet.”

She laughed, “I don’t think you should say that,” she said. “I think Hoseok would get a little upset, if he knew that you didn’t think of him as friend yet, after he broke the guild auditioning rules to help you join the guild with your friend.”

The young mage flushed in embarrassment and he looked down, “I’m not sure that he wants to consider me a friend.”

“He’s a good kid,” she said. “If you want anyone to be your first friend here, then he’s a really good choice. He’s a good kid, even though he doesn’t seem like it, sometimes. He’s a little bit of a troublemaker, but that’s only because he’s good friends with Minhyuk—he’s been lonely, because Minhyuk’s injured, though. That’s who your friend is healing, so I don’t think he’d mind making a new friend, for now.”

And when Kihyun looked at her again, she laughed. It seemed she understood the look in his eyes and the unspoken questions. Despite the unsure mentality he’d been stuck in ever since the guild master imprinted him with the guild’s insignia, he found his mind sated at her words. There was something reassuring about the woman in front of him, and the back of his mind decided that he liked it.

“Or, I could be your first friend, if you want. I’m Bora,” she told him, with a smile. Kihyun nodded, quietly. “You can always come to me, if you need anything. I’m always at the guild, because I’m not the kind of mage to go on any of the missions, so I’ll always be here if you need me.”

Kihyun nodded and managed a small smile, mirror her expression—somehow, it was a little contagious.

“If you need to go find Hoseok,” she said with a quick nod and a kind smile, “He’s on the terrace, right now. You could go talk to him, if you want to. It’s stopped raining, so you won’t need to take an umbrella, or anything.”

 

 

 

True to Bora’s words, Hoseok was on the terrace, leaning against the wall and staring out into the cityscape beneath the elevated platform of the terrace. He noticed Kihyun’s presence immediately as the younger man stepped onto the terrace, and he turned his head to look at Kihyun.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, quietly. His voice was gentle and Kihyun swallowed, looking up at the taller boy with wide, innocent eyes. He seemed to make a quick connection that Kihyun was looking for him, based off of the hesitance that flickered through the young mage’s eyes. “... Why were you looking for me?”

“I...” he started, “I wanted to thank you for standing up for me, back then.”

Hoseok shook his head, scoffing in amusement. “You don’t need to thank me for that,” he said, “You just need to work hard and prove to the rest of the guild that you deserve a spot in the guild.”

“Why, though?” the twelve year old mage asked, softly. Hoseok looked at him in confusion, and Kihyun cleared his throat, quickly attempting to clarify his words. “I meant why did you stand up for me? I’m not anyone that you know, and you don’t know what I’m capable of, but you still stood up for me. I don’t get it.”

Hoseok shrugged, turning his head away from Kihyun and looking out into the cityscape, again.

“I don’t know why I did it, either,” he said, simply. Hoseok crossed his arms over his chest, and Kihyun studied the older man’s side profile with a clear confusion in his eyes. “You have a certain look in your eyes, though—something that tells me that you’re hiding something, and I want to believe that it’s something to do with your magic, and it’s why you don’t want to show everyone what you’re capable of doing.”

“I’m scared of my magic,” Kihyun admitted, quietly. “I’m not really good at controlling it, so I don’t like showing people what I can do.”

Hoseok glanced at him through the corner of his eye and he sighed, pressing his fingers to the temples of his head. “You’re going to be a lot more work than I bargained for,” he murmured. The guilt burned in Kihyun’s gut and Hoseok turned his body to face him.

“... Do you regret it?”

“No,” Hoseok replied, sighing. “What did you say your name was again, kid?”

Kihyun hesitated before swallowing, and Hoseok arched an eyebrow. “Do you not want to give me your name, either?”

“No!” he exclaimed, shaking his head with his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Hoseok chuckled.

“I’m just kidding, you don’t need to freak out like that,” he replied. Kihyun deflated, immediately calming down and he pressed sweaty palms together, shifting uncomfortably on his feet and he avoided Hoseok’s gaze.

“My name is Kihyun,” he said. “Yoo Kihyun.”

“Alright, Kihyun,” Hoseok told him. “I might not be the best mage in the world, but I’m going to help you get used to using your magic, and we’re going to get you some good recognition in this guild, got it?”

And Kihyun would have argued, but Hoseok’s tone left no room for argument. The twelve year old mage nodded dumbly in response to the inquiry and Hoseok flashed a smile. The sixteen year old mage ruffled Kihyun’s hair as he walked by him, re-entering the guild building.

“Go get yourself settled in,” he instructed. “I told grandpa to get you and your friend a room in the guild, since both of you look like you don’t have a home to return to.”

Kihyun stumbled over his words of gratitude, but by the time that he looked back up from his bowing position, Hoseok was gone. Running back into the guild building, Kihyun scrambled to find Changkyun.

Surely, the younger mage would be done with whatever the rest of the guild needed him for—Kihyun needed someone to talk to. He’d never met anyone in the world who was nearly as kind as Hoseok.

He held his breath as he ran through the hallways.

 

 

 

Two weeks after they joined _X Clan_ had Hoseok finally convincing Kihyun to leave Changkyun’s side for a few moments to head out into the yard of the guild with him. He promised that Changkyun would be able to come with them to the yard, if Kihyun really wanted it—and he did. So, the small Sky Dragon Slayer followed behind them in their footsteps with an excited smile on his lips; Hoseok had told him that Kihyun would be using his magic again, and it had Changkyun thrilled.

The week after they joined the guild had the boy Changkyun had healed—a requip mage with dark red hair, named Minhyuk—back on his feet and close enough to full health to run around with Hoseok. Heading into the yard meant that they were passing by his room, and Minhyuk was ecstatic to follow in Hoseok’s footsteps. He was filled with questions and it made Kihyun’s nerves skyrocket: _he had to learn to use his magic in front of three different people?_

It was fine when it was just Changkyun and Hoseok, because Changkyun had been by his side for years, and Hoseok promised that he would make sure Kihyun could get hold of his magic and destroy that fear he had of it. But, with Minhyuk around, it was another person to show his abilities to.

Hoseok forced both Minhyuk and Changkyun to stand on the balcony and watch them from afar, in case of any accidents. He took Kihyun’s arm and tugged him gently into the open field, just before the small pond and the sixteen year old mage looked at him.

“We can practice your magic here,” he said. “It’s open space and there’s no one really here except for you and me.”

Kihyun quietly nodded, but his insecurity practically radiated in the way he looked down at his feet. Hoseok sighed softly, and he raised a hand, moving his fingers slightly.

“Magic isn’t anything that you should be afraid of,” he told him. “Look.”

Kihyun looked up at him, watching as Hoseok drew water from the pond to lace around his hand and float there, swirling between the spaces of his fingers. The older mage continued to speak, “It can be simple.”

The water remained suspended around Hoseok’s palm and the older man’s lips curled into a small smile; “Or it can be amazing,” he added. And then with a blue glow, the water began spiraling quickly in the palm of the older mage, mimicking a whirlpool above his hand, “Or maybe even beautiful?”

Hoseok closed his palm and the water vanished immediately, but before Kihyun could open his mouth and ask, Hoseok opened his hand and spread his palms, making the water burst out of his hand immediately freeze above them. Then, he snapped and the frozen water exploded into tiny snowflakes, scattering around them. “It’s not really that hard, Kihyun,” And then with a reassuring smile, Hoseok looked at him, “I’m an ice-water elemental mage. I showed you what I can do, won’t you show me what you can do?”

There was something reassuring about being with Hoseok, and Kihyun found himself amazed with the older man’s presence and the way he calmed Kihyun down. So, clasping his hands together and closing his eyes, Kihyun channeled his energy into his palms. Within seconds, the younger man opened his hands and sparks fell from his palms towards the grass, but quickly flying upwards with a gentle breeze (which he suspected was Changkyun’s doing from the distance) before they could have the blades catch fire.

In his cupped hands, a small ball of fire swirled around and he looked up at Hoseok for the approval and praise that his small, childish heart was hoping for. He hadn’t been expecting the shock on the older mage’s face. Hoseok’s jaw dropped slightly open and he looked strangely flustered.

“You’re a... _fire mage_ ,” Hoseok breathed, after a moment of staring at the ball of fire in Kihyun’s hands, which he’d presented to Hoseok with excitement in his eyes. From the balcony, Kihyun could see Changkyun leaning against the railing and grinning to himself in interest.

Closing his palms, Kihyun’s expression immediately dropped and worry crossed his face. The sparks died in his hands and he looked down, suddenly ashamed, “You’re not... you’re not afraid, are you?”

Hoseok shook his head, quickly, “N-no! I’m not, I just wasn’t expecting that!”

“... then... what’s wrong?” he asked. The disappointment was obvious in his tone and Hoseok caught onto it all too quickly. The older mage was quick to try and amend his words and lift the fire mage’s spirits.

“I just don’t usually get along with fire mages,” he admitted, quietly. “I don’t usually talk to them, because they’re usually mean and I don’t like them. Our guild doesn’t have any fire mages, though. But, I think you’re okay.”

Kihyun studied Hoseok’s expression, clearly not believing him and the ice-water mage sighed, exasperatedly.

“We can make it work,” Hoseok told him, patting him on the shoulder trying his best to be reassuring. But, Kihyun could hear the way his voice trembled as he continued to ramble. “I might not usually get along with fire mages, but I think we’ll be okay. I can put out your fires if anything goes wrong, right? It won’t be too bad. We’ll make it work.”

He could hear Minhyuk’s boisterous laughter from the balcony, and when Hoseok shot the other mage a dirty look, Kihyun couldn’t help but burst into soft laughter.

“Okay,” he said softly. “You promised.”

Hoseok managed to smile at him.

_If Hoseok promised they’d make it work, then surely, they’d try their best._

 

The truth was that Hoseok got used to casting magic around a fire mage a lot quicker and more comfortably than he would ever like to admit, for someone who claimed he didn’t like any fire mage in existence. Kihyun was simply _different._ He was childish at heart and afraid of his own magic for the most part—he was harmless and he trusted Hoseok to extinguish the fires that got out of hand.

Somehow, they became something close to inseparable and they spent every waking moment together with the insistence that they were practicing their magic. Everyone in the guild knew that neither of them really need _that_  much practice, once Kihyun finally got a hold on how to control the flames that often got out of hand.

They worked well together and it was more than enough for Kihyun to learn how to use his magic when he was with Hoseok. The older mage gave him a sense of security, because Hoseok would catch him where he would mess up, and they simply _worked_.

He was always a good team with Changkyun, but with Changkyun, there wasn’t anyone to shut off his flames when they decided to burst away from his control—Changkyun’s powers could only do so much for him and conceal them away in a spiral of air until they vanished from Kihyun’s exhaustion.

So, with them, they all grew up together and closer. Neither of the two Dragon Slayers had thought that they’d ever find a place where they could fit in, but in short years and speeding time, they managed to find a home in the guild that called themselves the X Clan. With time, they found themselves comfortable and proud to wear the insignia of the guild on their bodies and tell the world that they were a member of the guild.

Hoseok was twenty-one when Kihyun was seventeen and has better control of his powers. Time drew past them quickly and they were both older and more comfortable with one another when Kihyun was seventeen and finally found it in himself to calm the fear that raged in his veins whenever he tried to set a small fire in his hands. Hoseok was also an S-rank mage when Kihyun turned seventeen, and it meant that the older mage wouldn’t be around as often. He took on dangerous missions and promised that he’d come back, but some days made it seem unlikely.

Changkyun and Kihyun would wait for him on the balcony of the guild, hoping that they’d see the familiar light blue hair glistening under the light—whether it be the moon or the sun—approaching the guild. Some days, Minhyuk would join them and he’d sit to Kihyun’s side and avoid Changkyun (it wasn’t a secret that they didn’t get along very well, because despite Changkyun saving his life, Minhyuk insisted that the sky Dragon Slayer was the reason that he lost a playmate as a child).

The attachment that he developed towards Hoseok was simply because the older man was his mentor, he’d convinced himself, and the longing to see the older mage whenever he left the guild was natural because they spent all of their time together when Kihyun was training. That’s what he told himself, but when Minhyuk asked him if he wanted to see Hoseok and he nodded eagerly, it carved a mischievous smile onto the red-haired mage’s lips and it kept Kihyun feeling like Minhyuk might know more than he let off.

“Do you ever think that he might come back?” Minhyuk asked him, quietly as they stood on the balcony and looked down at the empty pathway. Changkyun had walked back into the guild, following Jooheon to the second floor. 

“No,” Kihyun answered softly, shaking his head. Minhyuk’s eyes seemed to glimmer with curiosity and he tilted his head slightly as he turned to look at the younger man. “He’s going to come back. He’ll always come back, safe and sound.”

“Why do you say that?” Minhyuk asked. “So many mages go off on dangerous S-rank missions for the sake of the pay and they never come back alive. Hoseok’s parents are the same; that’s why he lived with the guild master since he was a child.”

“Do you doubt him?” Kihyun looked at the red-haired mage, and Minhyuk was suddenly taken aback by the inquiry. He shook his head. 

“Of course not,” he said, “I trust him more than I trust myself. I grew up with him, and I know him.”

Kihyun’s lips curled into a peaceful smile, “Then, trust him. Hoseok hyung promised that he would come back, and I trust that he will.”

“Sometimes, mages leave their guilds for years to complete their missions and no one knows if they’ll ever come back, even after promising that they’d come home to their families,” Minhyuk said (and everyone in the guild knew that Minhyuk kept a tally on every single guild in the continent as a hobby—he’d know better than anyone else about the survival rates of missions). “You trust the word that he would come back, without knowing anything about the missions that he’s taken on out there?”

Kihyun nodded, childish faith in his eyes;  _“He promised.”_

 

Kihyun is nineteen when Hoseok finally comes home from a mission that took entirely _too long_  to complete.

He was joking around and laughing with Minhyuk—who had recently been promoted to an S-rank mage—on the balcony of the guild, pushing the older mage’s arm and rolling his eyes, when the corner of his eye caught a shine of light blue. He turned his head and excitement filled his eyes. Minhyuk noticed a second later, but Kihyun was the first to shout down at the ice-water mage.

“Hyung!” Kihyun called, jumping up and down on the balcony, suddenly wishing he had Changkyun’s magic—the younger man could take the jump off of the balcony and land on his feet without any injuries. Kihyun had to take the stairs.

Hoseok looked up to the balcony and offered a wave, and a smile. He shielded his eyes with a hand and Kihyun was leaning over the balcony, practically bubbling with excitement to finally see the older mage at home. At the sound of Kihyun’s voice though, there was a zipping of yellow beside them and in a blink, Jooheon was floating by Hoseok, hugging the mage’s head and wailing about how much he missed him.

Changkyun ran after the Exceed and he grabbed Kihyun’s hand, quickly throwing himself off of the balcony and pulling Kihyun with him, cushioning their fall with an invisible gust of air. And then they were running towards Hoseok with their arms wide open. From the balcony, Minhyuk yelled down at them for leaving him alone to take the stairs (“Was it so hard to grab me too, if you were going to grab Kihyun?” he complained), and they laughed when Hoseok pulled the three of them into a hug, sticking his tongue out at his best friend.

With a glance upwards, his eyes met with Hoseok’s and the older mage flashed him a gentle, affectionate smile. Kihyun’s heart bloomed with an immediate burst of affection and he swore that his heart didn’t start racing in that second.

But, in moments like this, Kihyun really felt like they were a huge family.

 

 

 

“You’ve been gone for a year and a half,” Kihyun crossed his arms over his chest with a pout on his lips. “You can’t just take on another mission and leave, again!”

Hoseok sighed, ruffling the younger man’s hair, “Why are you so upset about it? Being a mage means that we have all these missions that we have to do for people, you know?”

“You got so much gold from the last mission,” Kihyun whined, childishly stamping his feet on the wooden floor of the guild. They were standing in Hoseok’s bedroom and Kihyun was upset with him for wanting to take on another mission after being home for barely a week. “Why do you have to go again?”

“Why don’t you want me to go?” he asked, “It’s not even about the gold, Kihyunnie. I have to work. There are so many missions left on the job board and _someone_ has to work on them.”

“You’re not the _only_  S-rank in the guild!”

“I’m the only one willing to do the missions quickly,” Hoseok told him, shrugging on his jacket. And it was all too familiar to the last time that Hoseok left the guild with a promise that he would return, only to come back a year and a half later. It burned as a quiet anxiety in his chest and Kihyun huffed loudly, turning away from the ice-water mage.

Upset, Kihyun crossed his arms over his chest again and dropped down onto Hoseok’s bed. The nineteen year old mage pouted, feeling tears well up in his eyes, “ _Quickly?_ I don’t know about you,” he said, voice cracking under the threat of the tears, “But, I don’t know what part of almost two years was _‘quick’_  to you!”

The sound of Kihyun’s voice cracking was enough to catch Hoseok’s attention and stop him from moving. The blue-haired mage turned his head to look at the fire mage sitting on his bed, who was now letting the tears fall from his eyes without restraint. He’d always hated being seen crying, but in this moment, he couldn’t help it.

“Oh, no,” Hoseok’s expression dropped and he immediately rushed to Kihyun’s side, fingers brushing his tears away, “No, no, no, _why are you crying?_ Don’t cry.”

“You’re so stupid!” he exclaimed, pushing Hoseok away. The older mage stood frozen for a moment, unsure of the reasons behind Kihyun’s sudden reaction. “How do you _make_ someone cry and then tell them not to cry?”

“What did I do?” Hoseok panicked, bending down onto his knees to gently cup Kihyun’s cheeks and brush his tears away with his thumbs. “What did I do to make you cry? Do you really not want me to go that badly?”

“Of course I don’t! _I missed you, you idiot!_ Why can’t you just stay with me for a bit longer?” Kihyun rose his voice, hands hitting the older man’s shoulders. 

It must have caught him off guard, because Hoseok was suddenly staring at him like he’d said something crazy. The younger mage seemed to catch on after a couple silent moments of sniffling and wiping away his tears, soft hands still rubbing his eyes raw. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kihyun mumbled, suddenly feeling small under the older man’s gaze. “Did I say something weird?”

Hoseok opened his mouth to speak, but then promptly closed it. He tried again, after a moment of silence and he cleared his throat, “No, you just... you just said that you—”

“Missed you? I do,” Kihyun told him.

“Kihyun...”

Kihyun clenched his hands into fists in his lap, swallowing a breath of air, before pouring out his heart to the older man—because, if he didn’t do it now, perhaps, he never would. “I miss you right now, too, even when you’re sitting in front of me, because I know that you’re going to leave me again, because you don’t think about how the people around you feel when you disappear without being able to send letters home! You don’t think about how I would feel at all, because you don’t know how it feels to rely on someone for years—to rely on _you_  for years—because you always protected me, and then feel like you were left behind without a clue of if that person who protected you _—that person who you grew to care so much for; that person you grew to love—_ would ever return!

“Would it kill you to just turn around and look at me for a second and think that maybe, just maybe, I want to be with you for a little longer than a few days? That maybe I want to come with you and make sure that you have a chance of coming back home, safe and sound? You’re an S-rank mage, you’re allowed to take me with you on missions, but you insist on keeping me at home because it’s safer,” Kihyun exclaimed, the frustration in his tone threatening for tears to burn down his cheeks. “Well, hyung, guess what? I swallow scorching flames and it makes me stronger; I burned down an orphanage when I was a child and my only weakness is the memory of the helpless children I couldn’t save!

“But, the only thing that hurts more than recalling that memory is that the thought that you—the person who defended and stood by my side to make sure I learned how to use my magic; the person who didn’t turn their back on me when I couldn’t be as useful as my only friend; the only person who helped me, despite all of our differences—has abandoned me, because I’m no longer that helpless damsel in distress that he first found me as!”

Hoseok stood frozen in front of him, letting the words slowly sink in and his eyes seemed to visibly shake as he looked at Kihyun, “Kihyunnie,” he said, softly. “I’m sorry... I didn’t know you felt like that...”

“Of course not,” Kihyun spat, rubbing at his eyes again, “You don’t pay attention.”

Kneeling back down in front of Kihyun, Hoseok sighed as he shrugged his jacket off and threw it back onto the bed. “I’ll pay attention to you,” he promised. “I’ll start paying more attention to you; I’ll make sure I know everything that makes you happy, and I’ll make sure I don’t do anything that makes you sad, okay? I care about you, Kihyunnie. I care about you so, so much; you can’t think that I don’t.”

Outside the window, rain started pattering against the glass and Kihyun took a breath. (He’d been the first and only person in the guild to realize that the sky always rained when Hoseok’s heart hurt—maybe it was simply something to do with being a caster of water.)

“It makes me sad, if you think that I don’t care about you,” Hoseok told him, hands gently cupping the younger man’s cheeks again. The blue-haired mage knocked their foreheads together with a soft breath, “You’ll forgive me, won’t you? I’ll stay with you. I won’t go on this mission. I’ll stay with you for a bit.”

Kihyun’s hands raised and they placed themselves over Hoseok’s soft hands and he kept his eyes downcast, “Is that a promise?”

Hoseok nodded, and he pressed a kiss to Kihyun’s forehead; _gentle_. “Yes, won’t you forgive me?”

“I’ll forgive you,” he said, though a small smile curved onto his lips in response to the gentle kiss to his forehead. “Because I trust you.”

“Thank you, Kihyunnie,” Hoseok said. “I’m sorry I made you sad.”

Standing up, Hoseok pulled Kihyun with him and enveloped the younger man into a tight hug. His arms squeezed Kihyun close to him, and the fire mage buried his face into Hoseok’s neck, making himself comfortable in the warmth of Hoseok’s touch. The blue-haired mage ran his fingers through Kihyun’s hair, soothing him and they stood in silence for a moment. Kihyun was the one to break the silence between them.

“But, what are you going to do about my heart?” Kihyun asked, quietly. Hoseok looked at him, slightly confused. The fire mage took his hand and placed it over his chest with a soft breath, letting Hoseok feel the quick beating beneath of his heart. “ _That_. What are you going to do about that?”

Hoseok’s expression softened and he brushed Kihyun’s hair out of his eyes, leaning back and studying him carefully. “What am I going to do about your heart?”

With a shy flush on his cheeks, Kihyun stood his ground with a firm shamelessness in the way he kept eye contact with the older mage. “Yes.”

And it happened faster than he could blink; Hoseok leaned towards him and pressed their lips together gently. And then he was gone. Kihyun blinked rapidly, and Hoseok knocked their foreheads together again, with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. 

“Does that make it any better?”

Swallowing, Kihyun’s cheeks burned with colour and he averted his eyes, finally giving into the overwhelming shyness he felt. And quietly, he whispered, “... I don’t know, you might... you might want to try that, again.”

And if it was possible to set your own heart afire, then the second that Hoseok laughed and pulled him closer, Kihyun felt like he was burning with indescribable happiness—something alike to floating on clouds.

_Perhaps, that’s what they called love._

**Author's Note:**

> as always, find me on twitter @kkyunjus (and watch me complain about how many wips i have)!


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